In the league table that really matters Romania has consolidated its place while the UK failed, again, to qualify.

But the surprise news is that London will host the 2013 FTTH Council Europe conference. With plans to exceed this year’s 3,200-delegate attendance, the Council’s 10th anniversary conference will be held at the Excel Centre near the Olympic site.

The annual publication of the FTTH Council Europe league table reveals that the Scandinavian countries, whilst still leaders in Europe, are rapidly being overtaken by eastern European countries. The league table features those countries who have achieved more than 1% penetration of homes and buildings with fully-fibred access networks – and countries in the slow lane with dominant Telco’s like the UK and Germany have yet to qualify.

The prediction of when the UK will achieve fibre maturity (at least 20% of homes/buildings using fibre connectivity) is now at some date beyond 2022. This might suggest gloomy prospects ahead for the UK economy but below the surface the event here in Munich shows that many UK-based fibre-network companies and software developers are managing to build export business. AFL for example has prospered selling test equipment to the Middle East and Romania where network operators have a keeen understanding of the need to lift the quality of local networks.

The current event in Munich has attracted more delegates from the UK than ever before and with FTTH Council Europe's decision to hold the event in London in 2013 there's a clear message for the emergent UK industry to ignore the grim prospects at home and seek out business development investment in other European countries.

The London event, celebrating the Council's 10th anniversary, will do more than raise the profile of the fibre and networked applications industries. With increasing pressure abroad for 'copper switch-off' plans', growing demand for IPTV and VOIP traffic, mobile operators seeking to integrate fixed and mobile networks and an escalating commodity price for copper that would encourage its recycling, the stage is set for some fairly high-level policy reappraisals before London welcomes thousands of fibre experts.

The full details of the FTT Council Europe analysis (including global results and the 'Race for Fibre Maturity') are now avaiable.

___________

notes:

The 3,200 delegates registered for the Munich event includes 200 (6%) from the UK - a threefold increase over the UK's 2010 record attendence in Milan. To compare the FTTH/B results with 2010 see 'On-line from Milan'